Minister of Science, Industry and Technology Işık: "Spread over an area of 3 million square meters, this valley will become Turkey's IT base where information will be transformed into technology and technology into products"

Fikri Işık, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, said that the Informatics Valley will become a rich living space with facilities and social facilities that can be used by 5 thousand R&D companies and approximately 100 thousand employees with the ecosystem it will create around it.

At the groundbreaking ceremony of the Informatics Valley planned to be established in Muallim village of Gebze, Minister Işık stated that developments in the field of information and communication technologies have shaped social life in every aspect. Pointing out that the market size of the ever-growing information and communication technologies sector in the world has reached 5 trillion dollars, Minister Işık said:

"The sector that offers the greatest opportunities to developing countries in this field is the software sector. Information and software technologies stand out as the most important dynamics of national development. In order to increase economic growth and social welfare in our country, we need to move to a high value-added production structure in traditional sectors where we are strong, and at the same time increase the share of high-tech sectors in our production and exports."

"Turkey is on the verge of a new breakthrough"

Explaining that the Informatics Valley is one of the vision projects that will play an important role in the realization of another success story, Işık continued as follows

"Spread over an area of 3 million square meters, this valley will be Turkey's IT base where knowledge will be transformed into technology and technology into products. In this valley with an R&D office area of 1.25 million square meters, where academia, industry, entrepreneurs, idea production, mind and sweat will meet, not only IT companies but also all R&D companies that want to produce based on information technologies will take their place. The Informatics Valley will create a strong synergy with incubation centers, international innovation and technology transfer offices and prototype workshops. With the ecosystem it will create around it, the Informatics Valley will become a rich living space with large recreation and sports areas, educational facilities and social facilities that can be used by 5 thousand R&D companies and approximately 100 thousand employees."

Stating that they will make the region, which is home to 87 of the 500 largest industrial companies, 37 organized industrial zones, 14 universities, institutions such as TÜBİTAK and TSE, a center of attraction in the field of information technologies, Işık said, "The region, which can reach a market volume of 25 trillion dollars and a population of 1.5 billion with a flight distance of 3.5 hours, will become an important logistics location with airports, high-speed train, highway connections and the Gulf crossing."

Minister Işık pointed out that the valley, which will be an education base in cooperation with national and international universities, will host Turkey's first thematic innovation center. Minister Işık emphasized that with the Informatics Valley, they have established an ecosystem where the technologies that will shape the world of the future will be produced, and that with this project they have taken the biggest step to accelerate Turkey's technology-oriented growth.

Stating that they will bring together scientists and innovative ideas that shape technology from all over the world in the Informatics Valley, Minister Işık said that they will enable Turkey to create a global brand in the field of information technologies.

Minister Işık pointed out that it is seen how fast the countries that invest in the IT sector develop economically, and said

"By creating the appropriate investment climate, these countries have become a center of attraction in the field of IT in the world. The 3 companies with the highest brand value in the world (Apple, Microsoft, Google) operate in the field of information technologies. At this point, Turkey should accelerate its efforts and become one of the countries that have a say in the world.

"We have created the necessary synergy in our country with the Informatics Valley"

Reminding that they have established separate working groups within the ministry, Minister Işık stated that they are working intensively on technologies such as big data, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, wireless communication technologies (4G-5G) and 3D printers, and that they are determined to become a country that not only uses technology but also develops it.

Noting that they want multinational companies investing in the field of informatics and technology and allocating significant resources to R&D to take part in the Informatics Valley, Işık said: "I make a call to all local and foreign companies and researchers here, we have created the necessary synergy in our country with the Informatics Valley. Come and take your place in this region where all kinds of incentives and supports will be provided. I believe that the companies that will take part in this valley will definitely benefit."

Hasan Basri Güzeloğlu, Governor of Kocaeli and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Informatics Valley, İbrahim Karaosmanoğlu, Mayor of Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, and Cevahir Uzkurt, Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, delivered speeches at the opening ceremony.

TÜBİTAK Vice President Prof. Dr. Mehmet Çelik, TÜBİTAK Secretary General Arif Koyuncu, TÜBİTAK MAM President Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bahadır Tunaboylu, TÜBİTAK BİLGEM President Prof. Dr. Arif Ergin also took part in the groundbreaking ceremony.